SURVIVOR'S ISLAND
While millions watched 16 castaways battle for US $1 million on Survivor Island, few noted the nation host.
The island, real name Pulau Tiga, is part of Malaysia, a country which is itself heralding its own survival.
Smashed by a recession that devastated East Asia, Malaysia took another hit when vast forest fires darkened the nation's skies for months on end.
More recently, the taking of hostages near Malaysia by Filipino bandits also hurt the area's image.
But Malaysia, which hangs drug dealers, is fighting back.
Its capital, Kuala Lumpur, has a magnificent new international airport, and vast highway networks are opening up. Development is rampant and one new building, Petronia Towers,
has achieved worldwide fame.
The two towers, linked by a glass bridge on the 44th floor, were featured in the movie Entrapment, starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Kuala Lumpur has its own silicone valley and the Malaysian Airlines fleet is so modern that economy passengers have individual entertainment systems.
With various cities and resorts offering five-star facilities, Malaysia plans to be the area's top tourist attraction.
Steve Payne plays in a Malaysian jungle.
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HEAD OF THE HOUSE
The Monsopiad Cultural Village, near Kota Kinabalu, is a family business founded in 1996 in memory of a fearsome 1700s Kadazan tribe headhunter named Monsopiad.
In one home hangs 42 human skulls, proudly shown off by a Monsopiad ancestor, Nicholas Dunggo, 24.
Outside stands a large stone, against which human sacrifice was once practised to appease the spirits.
"I wish we could do some headhunting now," says Dunggo. "I can think of a few people ..."
Dunggo says the nation's history must survive. Elsewhere around the country, some rural indigenous peoples continue to live in communal longhouses.
AUNTIE TOM'S CABIN
Macik Tom, 85, known as Auntie Tom, lives in Unit 0098, a wooden, stilted, ramshackle house in Temoyong, Langkawi.
She has hydro, running water and an outside toilet.
She married young and had a child who died, later remarrying a man who had children. He died six years ago.
Tom, who rolls her own cigarettes and smiles incessantly, is a tourist attraction.
Visitors drop by and, for a tip, she willingly demonstrates how she grinds betel nuts and other foods to determinedly survive by the old ways.
YOUR HIGHNESS
Another surviving tradition in Malaysia is its royal family.
The present king is: Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang Dipertuan Agung Sultan Sallehuddin Abdul Aziz Shah or, simply, His Royal Highness, the King of Malaysia.
The King, 74, has a beautiful 27-year-old wife.
The not so deserted beach of Pulau Tiga.
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CURSED LAND
Langkawi, a Malaysian island with fabulous beach resorts, is home to the tomb of Makam Mahsuri.
She was wrongly accused of adultery and, according to legend, bled white blood at her knifing execution.
With her last words she cursed the island, saying it would be barren for seven generations (175 years).
Those generations have now passed and Langkawi is becoming a booming tourist haven.
LOGJAM
Malaysia has put its logging operations under control.
Good news for its unique wildlife, including the orangutan.
One of its finest parks surrounds Mt. Kinabalu, East Asia's highest mountain at more than 4,000 metres.
Apart from hundreds of species of animals and fauna, the mountain slopes are home to the world's largest flower, rafflesia, which can weigh two kilos.
The park's carnivorous pitcher plants have digested rats, and one fern may figure in cancer research.
The survival of Malaysia's environment is a priority and efforts are underway to educate the public accordingly.
One battle concerns fish bombing, the use of dynamite which, while catching fish, destroys coral reefs.